Dan Feng immediately used powerful wind magic to disperse the dust cloud.
He then saw the man half-kneeling in the massive crater. One of his arms had vanished, and the sword that had blocked the water cyan dragon was now stuck in the ground right in front of him.
Orsted was breathing heavily in great gasps. It had been many loops since he last tasted the feeling of defeat.
Either time ran out, or he died from eating fugu.
"As I said earlier, my name is Dan Feng. I had no intention of starting a conflict, yet you insisted on attacking." Dan Feng's emotionless voice reached Orsted's ears.
Orsted slowly raised his head, looking at Dan Feng floating in midair, and said calmly, "Both you and that strike just now carried an extremely powerful dragon aura. Are you also of the dragon race?"
"You could say that. Do you still want to fight? I'd be happy to oblige to the end." The Heavy Abyss Pearl returned to Dan Feng's hand.
"From this exchange, I've already confirmed you're not an apostle of the Human God. That dragon aura alone is proof enough." Orsted slowly stood up, then regained his original expression.
"Do you want to know about the Human God?" Orsted looked toward Dan Feng.
"Human God..." Dan Feng pondered for a moment, a trace of curiosity appearing in his eyes regarding the Human God.
Orsted then produced a scroll from somewhere and unfurled it.
In the blink of an eye, his missing arm visibly regenerated at a speed observable to the naked eye.
"I deeply apologize for this misunderstanding." Orsted said calmly, then began explaining everything about the Human God to Dan Feng.
He started from the very beginning of the world, then spoke of how the original Dragon God destroyed the other four planes, the collapse of the Dragon World along with the original Dragon God, his own mission and responsibilities, and the curse he bore.
His goal was to kill the Human God—this was the curse placed upon him by his father. As long as the Human God lived, he would continue looping forever.
"You mean you've been looping this entire time? Each time resets to Armoured Dragon Calendar Year 330, and if you don't defeat the Human God within two hundred years, you loop again?" Dan Feng asked Orsted below him.
"Yes."
"That sounds pretty miserable." Dan Feng shook his head. He recalled Bai E from games in his previous life—someone who was also trapped in endless loops—and understood the torment of infinite reincarnation.
Through this conversation, Dan Feng learned all the information there was about the Human God and understood why the Dragon God had attacked him in the first place.
He said he could understand.
After all, having looped countless times, Orsted knew that apostles of the Human God would approach him, so hearing the words "Human God" triggered an immediate attack.
He had essentially developed a conditioned response to those two words.
During this time, Roxy stayed bored in the distance. She sat on a huge rock, using fire magic to warm herself.
She couldn't approach—otherwise she might suffer another adverse reaction from the Dragon God.
Not long after, the Dragon God finished telling Dan Feng everything he needed to know. After listening, Dan Feng fell into deep thought.
After a while, Dan Feng raised his head, looked at Orsted, and asked, "So, Orsted, do you know how to find the Human God?"
Orsted was silent for a moment before answering, "As I said at the beginning, to find the Human God, one must obtain the secret treasures within the bodies of the Five Dragon Generals."
Dan Feng nodded to show he understood, but his tone remained calm: "Though hearing you say that makes the Human God sound utterly disgusting, I don't really have any reason to help you."
Orsted didn't seem surprised by Dan Feng's response. He simply said faintly, "I know. As long as I can confirm you're not an apostle of the Human God, that's enough."
Dan Feng then asked, "By the way, you said drawing the divine sword consumed half your mana. Can you still defeat the Human God in your current state?"
Orsted replied slowly, "No need to worry. When the time comes to face the Human God, I'll naturally have a way to deal with him."
"I'm curious—if I hadn't intervened, what would Roxy's future have looked like?" Dan Feng asked a question that interested him. He now knew that in Orsted's other loops, he had not existed—so what had become of Roxy afterward?
"...As far as I know, she would become an outstanding mage renowned throughout the world, but she would remain single until her death. In the future, she would meet a long-eared woman named Sylphiette, and the two would live together." Orsted recalled Roxy's experiences from previous loops and spoke slowly.
"Single until death?"
"Yes... single until death."
"We've come to know each other through battle. If you ever truly run into trouble in the future and need me, I might come." Dan Feng said politely.
"Mm." The Dragon God responded without ceremony.
Afterward, the Dragon God Orsted walked toward the Dragon God Labyrinth. Presumably, there was something inside that he needed.
The Dragon God Labyrinth had not collapsed despite Dragon Roar Mountain being split in half—that was what made it one of the top three labyrinths in the world. Its durability was comparable to dragon scales.
Thinking about it, Dan Feng also noticed that this labyrinth was called the Dragon God Labyrinth.
From a distance, Roxy saw the Dragon God Orsted enter the Dragon God Labyrinth. She then hurried over to Dan Feng with her short legs.
"Dan Feng, what in the world happened?" Roxy stared at Dan Feng's face with lingering fear. Though Dan Feng had overwhelmingly dominated the fight, she was still deeply afraid of that person.
"He is ranked second among the Seven Great Powers—the Dragon God Orsted." Dan Feng said slowly.
Unbeknownst to him, the second place on the Monuments had now changed from the Dragon God to [Imbibitor Lunae], and the emblem had become a circular pattern of a cyan dragon.
This was because he had defeated the Dragon God Orsted, and Orsted had yielded the second position among the Powers to him.
The Monuments recorded itself through magic and automatically reordered based on changes in strength. To be listed, a person of sufficient power had to challenge and defeat any one of the current Powers.
"The Seven Great Powers?!" Roxy said in shock. The Seven Great Powers were the seven strongest people in the world—that was why she was so stunned.
"As for why you were so afraid of him, it's because he's under a curse. All living beings fear him." Dan Feng explained to Roxy.
"Then why did he suddenly attack you? And what is the Human God?" Roxy was very confused. It all sounded too cryptic—she couldn't understand what the two of them had been talking about.
In the time that followed, Dan Feng led Roxy out of the bisected Dragon Roar Mountain. Along the way, he explained to her everything about the conflict between the Dragon God and the Human God.
This left Roxy utterly shocked. There was actually an evil Human God beyond this world.
"The Human God cannot observe me. But during that banquet in the Asura Kingdom, I sensed the Human God's gaze upon me." Dan Feng said to Roxy. This would help her better understand that the Human God was an evil deity.
After all, casually peering into others' futures didn't sound like the behavior of a benevolent god.